


An Unexpected Friendship

by brokenhighways



Category: Hit the Floor (TV)
Genre: Babysitting, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, Humor, M/M, My First Work in This Fandom, Post-Canon, Unexpected Friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-02
Updated: 2017-03-02
Packaged: 2018-09-27 20:26:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10047338
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brokenhighways/pseuds/brokenhighways
Summary: Jude's away in New York on business and well, that means that Zero has no one. Realistically, he could call Jude and have him fly back but he knows that they can't be everything to each other perpetually. That would suffocate them. Jude has Lionel and Zero needs to find someone like that.  So he does.





	

**Author's Note:**

> 1\. This is set after 'Til Death Do Us Part (3x11). Sorry for the awful summary.  
> 2\. This is my first HTF fic so I am extremely nervous - I am not sure if my characterisation is any good, but...I tried! I kinda just sat down and wrote and this is what happened. LOL.  
> 3\. Is this show cancelled or not? I was happy with how it ended (it was all kind of perfect really) but I wouldn't say no to more.  
> 4\. Is there video of all of the Zude scenes? Enquiring minds would like to know! :P
> 
> ...
> 
> 5\. I will shut up after this one but just a note that this is unbeta'd and I apologise for any mistakes.

Zero has had a long fucking day. At least that's what he finds himself telling the barista at the coffee shop. He's just picked up a black coffee for one and it's come with an extra side of maudlin self-pity. Jude's away in New York on business and well, that means that Zero has no one. Jelena is an easel that his brush does its best to refrain from. The guys on the team still see him as the outsider. The guy who's never going to be Derek or Terrence. That means that he finds himself talking to random people every so often. Like the barista who just slipped him her number. 

Normally he would flirt back and use it to rile Jude up later but today he's tired. Today he _needs_ someone. The season's approaching it's end and the fatigue is starting to kick in and he needs some reassurance. That the team doesn't suck, that they won't choke. That _he_ won't choke. Realistically, he could call Jude and have him fly back but he knows that they can't be everything to each other perpetually. That would suffocate them. Jude has Lionel and Zero…needs to find someone like that.  

A confidant.  

None of that explains why he finds himself in Jelena's office.  

It should scare the shit out of him that he's gone through a mental list of everyone he knows and ended up here of all places. However, Jelena doesn't bother him, she doesn't scare him.  

She never has.  

She's sitting behind her desk with her ever present serious expression painted on her face. It makes Zero smile sometimes just because Jude had no idea what he meant when he'd described it as a _Resting Bitch Face_. That's he's with a guy that seems to know nothing that's not related to business never fails to amuse him. Hell, he's thinking about roleplaying as a spreadsheet one of these days. Anyway, Jude aside, Zero senses that he's going to need Jelena's help if he's truly going to become the star of the team.  

"Take a picture,"Jelena says suddenly. "It'll last longer than the three seconds it'll take for me to have you removed from my office." 

Zero snorts, but he steps further into the office and smiles widely. "I'd like to see you try." 

"Don't tempt me," Jelena retorts without a flinch.  A notification sounds on her laptop and she rolls her eyes and turns her attention back to the laptop. "I'm busy so if you're here to bitch about your lack of endorsements, I'm sure that there's some kind of low-rent offer heading your way shortly." 

Zero's not going to lie, with Derek and Terrence leaving the team, the Devils has become less marketable than it was, but he's still a big name. He's not hurting for money and Jelena is well aware of that. This fake animosity between them is all guff. They don't really despise each other. Zero's man enough to accept that she played him well and truly. Several times. He's done being a manipulative bastard. All of that facade and drive has been channeled into something else now. A desire to be real and…a desire to actually enjoy his game.  

"Actually, I'm here about the team," Zero says as he steps in. She's redecorated since Oscar left. The walls are white. The floor is covered in a plush cream carpet (Zero wonders if it's bad that he finds it presumptive that she's not concerned about getting shot again) and overall, the office looks far too angelic for someone like Jelena.  

It's like all of his Bible quotes and former good guy, Christian 

Fake, tacky and a little overdone.  

Jelena sighs and clicks something on her laptop. Finally, she levels him with a cold stare. "What about the team?"  

Zero smirks at her, knowing all too well how much it riles her up. "We need a little bonding exercise. I'm thinking Vegas."  

Jelena rolls her eyes. "I don't think so. Stop wasting my time, Zero." 

"C'mon, it'll be good for the guys. We were rusty out there on Saturday," Zero pleads. "I need them to trust me. And, hey - you're part of the reason why they don't." 

This time Jelena slams the laptop shut with more force than necessary. She glares up at Zero.  

"No." 

Zero stares at her. "What do you mean, 'no'?" 

Let's face it, not many people say no to him. However, Jelena is not and will never be most people. That doesn't mean that he has to just _accept_ her answer.  

"The Playground is at your disposable. Use that." 

"You want me to make the Playground my _Vegas_?" Zero grins at her and shifts so that he's leaning against the wall. Jelena doesn't hide her second eye roll and Zero watches as she grabs her keys and purse off the desk.  

"Just try and keep yourself out of the media," Jelena warns him. "Or else." 

There's only one thing in the world that Jelena could truly take from him and if she goes there, there'll be hell to pay. He's pretty sure that she knows that.  

"I'll keep our little party out of the media on one condition," Zero says when she comes to stand in front of him. "You have to have lunch with me." 

~ 

Lunch is a lot more awkward than he expected it to be. No, seriously, what the fuck did they talk about when they were together? Oh, that's, right there wasn't much talking. Just screwing around and preening. And plotting.  

"Zero, I don't have time for this," Jelena snaps . She's got a barely touched salad in front of her and Zero frowns. It looks like she has time to him.  

He runs a hand through his short blonde hair and clears his throat. "Fine. I need someone to talk to and I think that you can be that person. I need a... _friend_. And the only person more messed up than I am is you, so. You know." 

"I'm pretty sure that I have _no_ idea what you're suggesting," Jelena shoots back with a deeply affronted look on her face.  

Unfortunately for her, Zero's never been the kind of guy that gives up easily. Jude will probably kill him when he finds out but fuck it. Zero needs someone smart in his corner and he might as well go straight to the top. Jelena might be a shark but it's better to have her onside. Plus he recalls that she wasn't all bad when they were together.  

Okay, she was, but people change.  

Some people change.  

Fuck.  

"Look, I think it's weird that Jude is the only person that I can talk to. And I can't talk about Jude stuff with Jude, so I need someone. I've picked you." 

Jelena laughs and flicks her perfect, sleek brown hair. Zero's already spotted the paparazzi outside, so he knows that's it's all for show. Jelena's like a method actor who always stays in character. Sometimes Zero thinks that she's played this person for so long that she doesn't know how to be real anymore.  

Once she sobers up she stares at him long and hard.  

"Here's how we're going to do it," she tells him. "You come to me. I give you five minutes after which I tell you all of the ways in which you're being stupid. Occasionally, I might ask that you do the same for me." 

Zero stares at her open-mouthed because honestly, he was pretty much going to resort to begging. He wasn't expecting her to agree so easily.  

"Why are you being…nice?" he asks. Jelena Howard always has an agenda and friend or not, Zero isn't going to let himself get sucked into her dark side. Not again.  

Jelena shrugs and finally meets his eyes. Her green eyes are as closed off as ever but for a minute it's like the mask has slipped.  

"I know what it's like to feel like you're alone even when you're not," she admits, before her eyes narrow and she adds, "and if you tell anyone that I said that I'll kill you." 

Zero holds his hands up in defense as Jelena takes a sip of water. It might seem like an idle threat but he knows that she's crazy enough to do it and he'd like to see his boyfriend at least one more time.  

~ 

Five minutes doesn't seem like a lot but by the time the clock hits zero, Jelena seems to have the problem figured out. Of course it helps that she's Jude's boss and sort of indirectly responsible for Zero's emotional issues. Someone might say that he's manipulating Jelena into letting Jude work in L.A. exclusively for the next few months, but to Zero, it's just good business. A happy captain makes for a happy team. A _winning_ happy team. 

Jude looks slightly harried when he climbs into Zero's black 2014 Porsche 911 Carrera outside of LAX. He's wearing a navy suit and light blue shirt but surprisingly, there's no tie. He must have been in a rush to catch his flight.  

"Everything okay?" Zero asks once he's kissed Jude so hard that the other man is a little breathless. He's not used to this. He's not used to missing someone. Sure, there's his sister but that's different. That's a necessary ache he's willing to wear until his situation changes. Being away from Jude is different. It's like missing a piece of himself and that scares him.  

"Yeah, I'm just wondering what's up with the Devils," Jude says. His hair is flopping onto his face again and Zero desperately wants to push it out of the way. "Jelena said there was an emergency." 

Zero steels his nerves and braces himself for a mixed reaction. "The emergency was that I missed you. And I didn't really know how to tell you so I…told her." 

Jude looks taken aback and Zero can't find the words needed to reassure him. The thing is that even though Jude saw firsthand what Zero did before, the girls, the escorts…Jelena, they don't talk about it. They never talk about the fact that they rushed into this. One minute he was sleeping with her and the next, Jude was kissing him in the back of that limo.  

"You spoke to Jelena about us?" Jude says, frowning when Zero nods. Jude doesn't really care for Jelena despite the fact that she's his boss. It's like he sees Oscar in her but it's ten times worse. Zero is always asking Jude why he sticks around, why he doesn't quit and his eyes always soften as he whispers, ' _because you're here, dumbass_!" 

"That's why she requested that I returned immediately?" Jude adds. He cocks his head to one side. "You missed me." 

He says it like he's talking about something surreal and maybe it is. Zero can be cagey sometimes and that he's actually spoken to someone else about them is big. That he admitted to missing Jude is big. That he has a ring buried in his sock drawer is big. That's a lot of big. 

"Are you mad that I didn't just…call you?" That's what Zero is expecting. Especially because they've made such a big deal out of being each other's family. Jude's got the shadow of Oscar leering above him and he's got a weight of memories that prove too much to bear sometimes. They're the only ones that know that about each other and maybe that's enough. Maybe Zero shouldn't feel like he needs someone else to talk to. Perhaps this whole Jelena thing was a mistake.  

"I'm not mad." Jude's answer is short and simple but underlaid with enough emotion (or lack thereof) for Zero to know that this isn't over.  

"For what it's worth, I missed you too, Gideon." 

Zero's never really been big on the name Gideon. In fact, he was never really big on actually _being_ Gideon before he realised that he actually wanted someone to see the real him.  

~ 

Jelena waits two days before she requests her five minutes. Zero's propped up in bed, with his back leaning against a mound of pillows. He's in the middle of eating cereal and silently cracking up at Jude humming in the shower when his phone starts to buzz furiously. He frowns when he sees the name ' _Hell-ena_ ' come up.  

He should probably change that now that they're….friends.  

"Morning, sweetheart," Zero says when he answers, just to rile her up. This weird agreement of theirs may not last but he gets the sense that pretending that they weren't sleeping with each other for several months will be futile. "Miss me?" 

Jelena doesn't even miss a beat. "Cut the crap. Need I remind you of rule number three?" 

It takes Zero a few seconds to recall that she'd emailed him a list of rules for whatever the hell they're doing. He puts her on speaker and clicks out of the call. After a few seconds he finds the email and feels his mouth stretching into a smirk.  

"No flirting. Gotta say Jelena, you're not as fun as I remember." 

"And you're still the same sleazy asshole that I remember," Jelena retorts. There's a momentary pause but Zero doesn't respond. They've been talking for twenty seconds.  

That's four minutes and forty seconds left. 

"Some urgent club business has come up," Jelena says into the silence. "Seeing as how I had to get Jude to come home, I'm the one who has to go and smooth things over. That means that I need someone to watch Miguel." 

Zero freezes up immediately. Plotting away and stripping for creepy photographers is one thing but kids? No. Hell no. Just. No. No fucking way.  

"You're kidding, right?" He sets the bowl on the bedside table and swings his legs onto the floor.  

Jelena laughs dryly. "Zero, I don't joke. I'll drop him off at seven. Please make sure that you're appropriately dressed." 

Zero just stares at his phone helplessly. "Look, what about Kyle? She's like, his stepmother. Why can't she take him in?" 

"The Devil Girls have a special performance in Vegas tomorrow." 

"Oh, so they get to go to Vegas but me and the guys have to make do with the _Playground_?"  

"Don't change the subject," Jelena snaps. "I'll see you at seven." 

The line clicks off and Zero sits there on his blue comforter and wonders how baby-sitting has ended up being the price he has to pay for having Jude home.  

He most definitely needs to find a friend that isn't as shrewd as Jelena.  

~ 

They get into an argument. It begins when Jude confronts Zero over his call with Jelena and it spirals from there.  All of those things that they don't talk about suddenly burst into life and Zero's stuck defending himself.  Jude doesn't seem to hear him and the words keep coming, the utterances of jealousy pour out thick and fast. 

"There's Skype, there's video calling, texting, emails - all of these wonderful things that don't involve crying on your ex-girlfriend's shoulder." 

Zero rolls his eyes because Jude knows that he has nothing to worry about. All of this misplaced distrust is driving him nuts.  

"Those things don't compare to having you here," he says, trying for honesty instead of the angry remark that's been dancing on his tongue for the past fifteen minutes. "Either I'm not here or you're gone. I wasn't ready to deal with that anymore." 

Jude levels him with a blank stare. "So you made a deal with the _devil_ instead?" 

Zero can't help grinning despite himself. "Nice comeback. And you know, she's not that bad. She's…got Miguel now." 

He hasn't mentioned that little tidbit of Jelena's call to Jude yet.  

He was planning to do it after they had some epic make up sex but he can tell that Jude's not in the mood. His body language is stiff and his fingers haven't snaked out to touch the way they normally would. Something is stressing him out but Zero is going to push. He never does. That's the difference between them. He needs that extra shove and Jude just needs time.  

~ 

Two hours later finds Jude rifling through a bunch of groceries that Zero's just brought into the house. Surprisingly, he wasn't upset about having to look after Miguel. Zero senses that there's a story there but he doesn't push. So long as Jude isn't angry with him, everything is good.  

"You bought a **_Frozen_** DVD?" Jude says with disbelief when he holds up the case. "Really?" 

Zero shrugs. "Kids _love_ **Frozen**." 

"What kids do you know?" Jude asks with a raised eyebrow.  

Zero grins and laughs gently. "Fine, _I_ love Frozen. And there's a whole bunch of other movies in that bag. So you know, _let it go_." 

Zero's not kidding. He's not really into all of that Disney shit but he flies enough that he caught it as a in-flight movie once. It made him long for a normal childhood but it also reminded him of his sister. In a way, she was like... his _Elsa_. Not that he'll ever tell Jude that.  

"Wow, you just had to work that into our conversation somehow didn't you?" Jude says with that soft, small smile that Zero likes to think is solely reserved to him.  

"You know it," he replies, unable to keep himself from smiling back.  

~ 

Babysitting Miguel goes smoothly, mostly because Zero's got some experience looking after kids. Despite his initial reluctance, the fact that Miguel's basically alone in the world resonates with him. It reminds Zero of his childhood and how the silences were always the worst part. When he was a foster kid, he'd take care of the younger ones before everything got too much. He'd play ball with them and teach them how to sneak money from their foster father's pockets when he was sleeping. Small, stupid shit like that.  

Miguel reminds Zero of himself in some ways. No mother, a useless father and a sort of evil stepmother in the form of Jelena. The kid's gonna have an interesting childhood that's for damn sure. He's quiet but smart and he knows his stuff when it comes to basketball. They play for a little bit while Jude fields business calls.  

Zero finds himself wondering what it would be like.  

Kids.  

Truth be told, before Jude, he'd never really thought about it.  

He still hasn't, at least not seriously. That Jude has spent most of the night making terse phone calls leaves a unsettled feeling in his stomach. They're both busy but he doesn't want to live a life where it's all about work. He wants there to be a time where it's just Jude and Gideon. He's just not sure that there ever will be. 

After he puts Miguel to bed in the spare room, Zero grabs his phone and sends Jelena a text message.  

_What was the point in sending Jude home if he's going to be on the phone all day?_  

He scratches his hair idly while he waits for her reply.  It feels _weird,_ like he's doing something wrong by texting her but he's genuinely wondering what the point of all of this was.  

_How's Miguel?_  

_Alive_ , he texts back.  

Jelene's response is quick and to the point: _Good._ _I'll deal with Jude._  

Zero's eyes widen as he contemplates what that could mean. It's _Jelena_. Anything is possible. _Literally_.  

He doesn't have to wonder for too long because Jude comes back into the living room minutes after the text. There's a bewildered look on his face.  

"Did you tell Jelena that I was making calls?" 

Zero looks down guiltily. Shit. He's going to have to teach Jelena some tact.  

"I just mentioned that for someone who's meant to be on a break, you're on the phone an awful lot," he says. Jude still looks on edge slightly. His shoulders are stiff and there's a sad look in his eyes that Zero has come to find means one thing.  

_Hurricane Oscar_.  

"What does your sperm donor want now?" Zero asks without bothering to ease into it. There's not point in peeling away this Band-Aid slowly. The best solution is to rip if off as quickly as possible.  

Jude's shoulders sink slowly. "The same thing he's been wanting for the past year. The club." 

Zero shakes his head and pats the spot on the couch next to him. Jude takes his time in joining him but when he does Zero pulls him in for a rough kiss, gripping Jude tightly when the other man melts in his arms and kisses back with equal fervour.  

It's only when Zero remembers Miguel's earnest questions about their relationship that he pulls back slowly.  

"Should we take this somewhere else?" Jude says with a smile that definitely doesn't meet his eyes.  

Zero snorts. "Not a chance. _One_ , the kid is here and _two_ , Jelena would probably kill me." 

Jude shakes his head but he doesn't seem too angry. He sinks back into the cream couch and sighs heavily. He shuts his eyes and Zero watches him and tries not to think ridiculously saccharine thoughts. 

"I've been avoiding you," Jude admits quietly. His eyes remain shut but Zero can see the way they tighten suddenly. "I met up with Oscar a few times and he…was _nice_. I didn't even tell Lionel about it because what kind of asshole does that make me? I let myself partake in a charade just to feel like I had a father. _Again_. Of course,  he dropped the act after lunch number three and…I just didn't want to tell anyone has how stupid I was. _Again_." 

Zero feels his heart sink for Jude because he gets it. When you've wanted something your whole life, there's never any getting away from it. Not really. Jude is always going to feel that void and Zero can't fill it or make it go away. He can't do anything except be there.  

"You're not stupid, _stupid_ ," Zero replies, using his pet name for Jude to coax a smile from him. It's never anything else. Just stupid because well, they _are_ kind of stupid for each other.  

It's what makes them gel so well together.  

"You're human, Jude and you're always going to need something from Oscar that he can't give you. Right now, the pain is visceral. Deep. But it'll fade in time. When you're done letting him rip open the wound, it won't even be that big of a deal because you won't really need him anymore." 

Jude nods in understanding and finally opens his eyes. He turns to Zero and takes his hand. There's a tight squeeze and then the weight of Jude's hand in his.  

"Sometimes I go back and see her," Zero starts, pausing just to take a breath and figure out how to say this. "My sister. I know that it's different but I get it. We all want something that we can't have. And there's no getting away from it." 

"You didn't tell me that you go back to see her?"  

There's no accusation in the words. Just curiosity.  

Zero shrugs. "There's not much to tell." 

He's lying, but he knows that Jude will see right through it. See right through him.  

"I'm sorry that I haven't been here for you." 

Zero looks up at Jude and swallows down anything else that he wanted to say. "I know you are. I'm sorry too." 

~ 

Jelena doesn't look impressed when Zero gives her the Cliff Notes of his and Jude's heart-to-heart. It's strange because she actually looked interested when he first reached her office.  

"Wow," she says when he's done. "I'm glad that I don't hang out with you two. I'd probably die of boredom." 

Zero has to laugh because he knows what Jelena is like. He knows that deep down, she's afraid of being alone, and that she probably could do with a friend. They have that in common and truth be told, Zero doesn't need a Lionel. He needs someone who can give it to him straight.  

"You of all people know that I know how to make the magic happen," Zero retorts with his patented smirk.  

Jelena just stares at him. "Yeah. You really know how to take a girl from zero to a hundred really quickly." 

Zero clasps his chest dramatically. "Ouch. That one actually hurt my feelings." 

It could be that there's some dust in his eyes but he swears that Jelena actually _smiles_.  

"Your five minutes are up," she announces almost gleefully. "Get out of my office. And stay out of Jude's office. He was work to do." 

Oh, and now she's just asking for it, Zero thinks. For whatever reason, he takes great pleasure in riling her up.  Maybe it's because he knows that she can't really do anything to him while he's the star of the team.  

Right now, he's practically untouchable.  

"Mmm, I'll say, he and I might just do some of that work on his desk," Zero says. He winks at her and adds, "I don't even mind if you watch." 

He saunters out without a response and makes his way over to Jude's office. 

After two days with Miguel, they both have a _lot_ of catching up to do, and a _lot_ of making up to do.  

"Are you ready to go?" Zero pops his head into the door and catches Jude in the middle of shoving stuff into his bag.  

Jude smiles at Zero before ducking back down to stuff the last folder in. His hair falls into his eyes again and this time Zero doesn't hesitate to step forward, lean across the desk and tuck it back behind Jude's ear. That leads to a charged moment and then suddenly hands are everywhere and they're kissing frantically. 

Zero feels the hard wood of the desk digging into his thighs but he doesn't care. He nips at Jude's bottom lip and savours the way he tastes. The kiss becomes even more heated and eventually Zero is the one who pulls away. His eyes zero on Jude's swollen lips and he's aware that they probably look extremely rumpled at the moment. 

"Let's go," Jude says a little breathlessly as he comes around the desk to meet Zero on the other side. He presses a chaste kiss on Zero's lips and gently nudges him towards the door.  

While Jude is locking up, a text comes through on Zero's phone. It's from Jelena.  

_I thought you were going to give me a show?_  

Zero laughs to himself as he texts back: _in_ _your dreams, sweetheart._  

It takes a while for Jelena to respond and Zero turns to look at Jude, who's gesturing for them to get moving.  

The reply come through just as they're approaching the parking lot.  

_Surely you mean nightmares? Make sure you're on time for_ _practice_ _tomorrow. Fucking the EVP isn't a valid excuse for tardiness._  

Zero snorts and pockets his phone. There's no need to even entertain Jelene's text with a response because he knows that Jude will _always_ be a valid excuse for anything and everything.  

_Always_. 

**Author's Note:**

> [written for the unexpected friendship square on my trope_bingo card]


End file.
